Developmental Stuttering Screening Instrument: development and content validation

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

to develop a screening instrument to identify the risk of developmental stuttering in preschoolers.

Methods:

the procedures were divided into two stages: The first one (theoretical), consisted of the literature review and the construction of the items that make up the instrument; the second stage (content validation), consisted of the analysis of the instrument by a judging committee formed by 10 speech-language-hearing therapists who work in the field of fluency. The data analysis was based on the calculation of the item content validity index (I-CVI) and the total number of answers (T-CVI). Also, an item reliability analysis was conducted with Cronbach’s alpha.

Results:

the Developmental Stuttering Screening Instrument (DSSI) encompassed 24 items distributed into four key categories. The I-CVI and T-CVI revealed a high agreement between the judges. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients indicated a high internal consistency between the judges’ answers in 19 of the 24 items. The qualitative analysis pointed to the need for new adjustments. All the analyses contributed to the construction of the second version of the instrument.

Conclusion:

the proposed instrument showed content-based validity evidence that made it possible, up to the present moment, to adjust it to its construct. It is suggested that the validation process continue, employing new accuracy measures.

Keywords:
Stuttering; Child, Preschool; Mass Screening; Validation Study